Searching
by Zillz
Summary: Shepard and Liara are drawn to each other but are unsure about how to proceed with their relationship. Both turn to the extranet for information and hilarity and hotness ensues.


**Title: **Searching

**Setting: **Mass Effect 1

**Pairing**: Female Shepard and Liara T'Soni

**Rating:** M for mature language, sexual situations, hotness, and excessive use of the word "fuck" as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, and an interjection. Do not read this story if you are offended by futuristic fantasy, feral grins, fornax, femshepard, foreplay, frayed nerves, finger fucking, or shy blue space aliens. Consider yourself warned.

**Description:** Set during the cannon story of ME1, this story takes place after Faros and Novaria but before Virmire or Ilos. Shepard and Liara are drawn to each other but are unsure about how to proceed with their relationship. Both turn to the extranet for information with varying degrees of success, embarrassment, titillation, and frustration resulting.

**Shepard Note: **This Shepard is of the paragon/vanguard variety. She has chin-length black hair and a severe case of trucker-mouth. I have not used her first name anywhere so feel free to insert your own Shepard into the story. Or feel free to insert Melaradark's Del Shepard into the story because Melaradark is the bomb and although I didn't use her character, the two are consistent with each other. Also feel free to insert your own dirty joke about inserting Shepard into things at this time. Done now? Good, moving on.

**Author Note: **Dammit Jim I'm a scientist not a writer! This is my first stab at fiction writing so go easy on me. I wrote this story for Rae D Magdon because she rocks my socks and maybe bribing her with stories will get her to write more things. Hint hint. Also, there is a second half to this which will be told from Liara's perspective, but I haven't written it yet. Don't worry though, it'll happen.

. . .

**Searching****  
**

**. . .  
**

Shepard was finding it more difficult than usual to focus on the rapidly accumulating assortment of reports, requests, messages, updates, and other forms of seemingly useless boondoggle that were strewn about her on the bed in the form of various datapads and OSDs.

_Paperwork_.

Blowing a too-short strand of black hair out of her face, she willed her eyes to scan this time down a lengthy report from the office of the salarian consulate. Something about illegal genetics research and krogans. She failed to see how this was her problem.

_Goddamn N7 marine and a spectre and I spend all my time doing goddamn paperwork. _

She tossed the datapad aside and picked up the one containing the extensive mission summary she'd written earlier for the Council about their recent mission on Faros. Scrolling through it, she decided there was nothing more she could add, so she sent it. The asari commando Shiala had given her the Cipher she'd gotten from the Thorian, but unfortunately she'd also given it to Saren more than a week earlier, so she felt like they were no closer to catching up with the rogue turian than before. They'd taken several samples from the Thorian and from the shambling, human-shaped abominations it seemed to produce and sent them back to the Citadel for study. They'd also kept some for Liara and Dr. Chakwas to take a look at. Shepard found herself wondering what Liara was doing down in med lab while she was in her quarters bogged down with reports. She'd become quite familiar with the medical lab space behind the medbay since Liara had joined their team and converted the lab/storage area into a lab/storage/protean expert bunking area. She considered dropping by the lab before racking for the night, maybe with a hot cup of tea for each of them, but decided against it. She'd already been by earlier that day and considering it was already 23:30 "just dropping by" with a cup of tea would be highly inappropriate and she didn't want to give the young asari the wrong impression or offend her in some way.

_Young? For fucks sake she's 106, she was riding solo on archaeological digs when I was learning to tie my goddamn shoes. _

Shepard sat up and shot an irritated look at the remaining datapads before gathering them up and casually tossing the lot of them towards the far corner of her desk where they clattered into a haphazard pile. Flopping down flat on her back, hands behind her head with one boot heel propped on the toe of the other, she sighed and tried to relax. As the ceiling of her cabin blurred out of focus, she felt some of the tension around her eyes easing as she let her mind drift to where it had been trying to go all evening.

. . .

"You intrigue me Shepard" Liara smiled at her but her eyes were full of doubt and uncertainty. God damn her eyes. They were a deep, luminous blue shot with bolts of ice the color of the sky on the clearest winter morning. Or maybe an iceberg. Or something else blue. Something so achingly beautiful that she was afraid if she leaned forward too much she would just fall into them and drown. God damn her eyes. Just, well, damn it.

"You intrigue me Shepard, but I was not sure if it would be appropriate to act on my feelings. I thought there might already be a relationship between you and Lieutenant Alenko."

Alenko? What, no, what?

"The Lieutenant and I are just friends Liara, nothing more". Shepard suddenly wondered why her heart sounded so loud and for one absurd moment she was afraid that Liara would actually hear it. Her heart continued to beat in her ears as she ran that last sentence back and forth a few times. Not sure if it would be appropriate to act on her feelings. Act on her feelings? Her feelings? Act? Before that thought got much further Liara sighed and stuttered shyly, "M-my mistake then. I am not as adept at understanding human relationships as I thought. " She averted her eyes and seemed to be considering something. Shepard watched Liara struggle with herself for a moment then moved to cup her face and draw her eyes up but her hand fell to her side in a balled fist before her fingers touched the other woman's cheek. "Liara I …" she began instead but Liara seemed to reach some conclusion and raised her eyes determinedly to meet Shepard's.

"Shepard, you are very special to me, and I find that with each passing day you occupy more and more of my thoughts. I think about you when you are not here and then you come and you speak with me and I enjoy seeing you a great deal and even when we talk for hours I feel empty inside when you leave. I do not know exactly what I am feeling or why but I cannot help but hope that you might feel the same way." Liara ducked her head again as her face heated in a violent purple blush.

"Liara." Shepard resisted the urge to reach out and touch the Asari's face once again, to reach out and brush her thumb along her cheekbone and lift her chin and draw her into her arms kiss her until ... Shepard's breath caught in her throat and she took a deep breath to focus herself.

"It is all right if you do not return my feelings. It will not affect our…it will not affect…us…the mission, I mean…Shepard please. Is there a mutual attraction, or was I wrong about that too?" She spoke softly, nearly whispering and her gaze remained averted. Shepard was unsure how to respond and her mind churned uselessly trying to come up with an appropriate answer. She should end this right now and just tell the poor girl that she regarded her as nothing more than a friend. All she had to do was open her mouth and say it and this would end and it would be the right thing to do but she couldn't bring herself to tell the lie. Not to Liara.

Liara glanced up at Shepard, having mostly recovered from the heat of her sudden declaration but her eyes were once again full of uncertainty. Uncertainty, and pain_. Oh god no, I've hurt her. Fuck, what have you done now Shepard you're such an ass. God damn her eyes! Shit._ Resisting the urge to touch her face yet again she reached instead for the other woman's hand. Shepard sighed inwardly with relief when Liara didn't pull back but allowed her hand to be taken. Shepard admired the contrast of blue skin with her own calloused tan and ran her thumb over Liara's knuckles before fixing her with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"No, you were right, there is something between us." _There, that was, uh…well, shit. _

"I knew it! And I knew you felt it too. But why? Why do I feel so close to you?" They were rather close, actually, at the moment, as Liara had taken a half-step towards her and was now standing maddeningly near, which was somehow also too far, as Shepard still held her hand between them. "We have only known each other for a short time, and we have almost nothing in common. This makes no sense."

"Quit being such a scientist T'Soni, you can't logic you way around everything, especially with these sorts of things." Shepard teased. In order to reassure the young scientist, who was now looking at her somewhat skeptically, she raise the blue hand to her lips and placed a chaste kiss on delicate blue fingers. Brushing knuckles again with her thumb she reluctantly let the hand go. Instead of letting it fall away Liara raised her hand to Shepard's face, hesitated, and then laid her palm along her cheek. When Shepard made no move to stop her she ran her thumb across the cheek and then along her jaw line. Shepard closed her eyes and savored the gentle touches as Liara curiously explored the edge of her ear and then gently ran a strand of her hair through her fingers, humming a contented note as she contemplated the unfamiliar texture. Shepard's eyes were still closed as Liara brushed her fingers over her temple and then her brow, before moving to the hollow of her neck. A mounting heat crept up under the cautious blue hand as Shepard felt her heart skitter into a faster beat. She seemed to be breathing far too loudly. Suddenly, she gasped and opened her eyes as Liara took the second half-step forward and tangled both of her hands in the Commander's hair. A burning desire flared through Shepard's body, threatening to take control as she used all of her will to beat it back down. _Shitshitshitshitshitshit. Shit_. Liara was looking up at her and her eyes contained nothing but longing, longing and a question, but Shepard wrapped her hands around Liara's wrists and gritted her teeth against further involuntary utterances as she forced herself to remove Liara's hands from her.

"Liara, I…I should go." She managed it without letting her voice shake. Hopefully. Dropping Liara's arms she fled from the room. As the doors to the med lab swooshed shut Shepard backed up against the wall outside and took several gulps of air, then breathed deeply trying to slow her heart rate as she wiped her palms on her knees. She noticed belatedly that her hands were trembling.

"Er-hem. Commander." Dr. Chakwas arched an eyebrow at her from her desk across the medbay. Shit. Well there was nothing for it now. Shepard pushed herself off the wall and straightened her uniform. "Dr. Chakwas." she nodded at the older woman and then strode purposefully out of the medical bay, past several crew members in the mess who saluted, and then into her quarters before collapsing onto her bed and covering her face with her palm and groaning. _Smooth moves Shepard, real smooth. _

_. . .  
_

Lying on her back in her bunk, hands still propped behind her head, the tension behind her eyes was now completely gone but a different tension was building. Shepard allowed her mind to drift back to Liara's hesitant touches, her skin tingling where blue hands had been only hours before. Liara's hands were soft and delicate, but strong and slightly cool to the touch. Her skin was the most beautiful shade of blue there was. At this thought Shepard actually rolled her eyes at herself. _Really self? Really, the most beautiful shade of blue ever? You've got it bad, Shepard_. Her skin really was beautiful though. Shepard sighed.

In her mind, Liara boldly stepped into the Commander's sphere of personal space and tangled both of her hands in her hair looking up at her with longing in her eyes. This time, Shepard wound one hand around the back of Liara's neck and the other around her waist and pulled her forward so their bodies met. Heat flared between them and every inch of contact made her body sing with pleasure, demanding more. Her heart beat wildly against the asari in her arms but she didn't care if she felt it. She lifted the other woman's chin to meet her eyes, which were achingly beautiful as always, and kissed her. Finally, finally kissing her, the asari's perfect purple lips had been torturing her as she kept catching herself staring at them but now she was allowed to take them with hers and as she did the medical lab fell away and her ears roared with an unknown sound but there was nothing but Liara. Liara in her arms kissing her back hesitantly, then more firmly, then hungrily as her hands ran through Shepard's hair, clutching fistfuls of the black tendrils and pulling Shepard down closer with a quiet, pleading cry in her throat.

Shepard allowed her own hands to wander up and down Liara's back, trying not to paw too greedily now that she was finally allowed to touch, to touch the woman she wanted so badly that her chest hurt where her caged desire seemed to be beating its fists against the inside of her ribcage. Shepard's hands drifted downward to the Asari's hips, savoring the way they curved into her slender waist before gripping harder and pulling Liara against her. The increase in pressure caused Liara to gasp and tilt her head back, breaking the kiss that left both of them out of breath, breathing hard but not wanting to stop. Shepard took the opportunity kiss her way down Liara's exposed throat which caused the asari to cry out in earnest this time. "Shepard! I…Goddess Shepard I'm melting." she panted with her head thrown back. Liara's voice, unstrung with pleasure and desire, shot painful lances through Shepard's body, stoking a feral need to have, to touch, to take. Further attention to her perfectly curved blue throat caused Liara's knees to give out and Shepard supported the weight with two strong arms behind her back as Liara clung to the Commander's neck like a drowning person. Shepard allowed the other woman to steady herself, holding her close and pressing her forehead against Liara's for a moment. Her tongue actually tingled in protest to its removal from the Liara's skin.

"Shepard…please..." Liara hissed, seeming unable to complete the thought, but she didn't need to. The single word was loaded with pure _wanting._ Before Shepard could form any sort of response she found herself kissing purple lips again, fiercely and insistently, and backing the other woman up towards a lab bench. Liara made no move to stop her as Shepard lifted her onto the bench, sweeping glassware and notes aside to clatter unnoticed to the floor. Shepard stood between Liara's knees as she continued kissing her, her hands caressing Liara's neck before moving down to fumble at the clasps of her green lab jacket. Rather that protesting as the small part of Sheppard's mind that wasn't yet completely swamped with animal aggression feared she would, Liara wrapped her legs around Shepard's waist and pulled her hips in to meet her. Both women cried out as Liara moved against her, arching her back and digging her fingers into the Commander's shoulders, her breath hitching as every other exhalation seemed to be accompanied by pleading note that she was completely unable to suppress.

Liara kept her firmly trapped between her legs as Shepard's trembling fingers were finally able to solve the inscrutable puzzle that was the series of buttons and zippers securing her shirt and lab coat and she pushed the offending garments away, exposing Liara's chest, stomach, and shoulders. Shepard stared with open-mouthed wonder at the sight before her for what seemed like a long moment before Liara made a brief sound of protest which snapped the commander out of her reverie. All coherent thoughts fled her mind as she drew Liara up and trailed kisses from her neck down her collarbone, pushing Liara's clothing further down her shoulders until the other woman ripped them off in frustration and cast them aside in a heap. As Shepard kissed her way downward drawing teasing circles around Liara's nipples she could feel the other woman's heart beating against her breastbone. When she took a nipple into her mouth and rolled it under her tongue Liara cried out again and ground herself against Shepard's hip. Shepard's hands ran up the asari's naked back as her lips and tongue continued to work. Liara's whimpering turned into a ragged cry as she threw her head back, smacking it against the wall behind her. Either she didn't notice or she didn't care because she pushed her hips forward and continued to make those thought-erasing pleasure noises that made Shepard's knees turn to water as she continued to work her tongue over every bit of blue skin she could reach. Before she could get any farther Liara lifted Shepard's head to meet her eyes "Shepard please stop." she hissed "I can't take any more…I feel as if I am dying, I need more, I need…" Liara's chest heaved distractingly as she struggled to catch her breath. Shepard did not stop but instead ground her hip more forcefully against Liara with her hands pressed into the small of the other woman's back. The action caused the asari to cry out again and move involuntarily against her, settling into a rhythmic motion.

"Ahh...Goddess…" Liara moaned and Shepard's verbalization of agreement came out as more of a growl as she buried her face in Liara's neck, which she couldn't stop herself from biting down on. _Shit, that's probably going to leave a mark, actually I hope it does. _Liara's hands tangled in her hair again. Both women lost themselves in the delicious pressure the movement created before Liara drew back, gasping for air and pressing her palms flat against Shepard's chest.

"Shepard, please." She begged "I need…I need…"

. . .

Shepard startled out of her thoughts and found herself still lying on her back alone in her quarters, her body flushed with a tension that was near to breaking. What did Liara need? She realized that she had no idea. In her mind she had been treating Liara as she would another human woman but she realized belatedly that she had absolutely no idea if asari reacted in the same way. She didn't even know if asari found kissing pleasurable. What if they didn't? What if Liara was completely repulsed by her alien advances, what if she did the wrong thing and caused the beautiful women to shudder in disgust instead of in pleasure when she was finally allowed to touch her? _Shit._

Shepard moved to her private extranet terminal and keyed up the search function. Sighing at the blinking prompt, she reached into the drawer of her desk for the bottle of whiskey she kept stashed there and poured herself a glass. Taking a swift gulp she steeled herself as the liquor burned down her throat. Shepard prided herself in being good at what she did, no matter what the task. She was at the top of her class at the marine academy, earning the highest marks not only in the classroom but also in the field in combat training, hand-to-hand, small arms, marksmanship, and infiltration. Her biotics were honed to a razor-sharp edge, and she prided herself in being damn good in bed. Unfortunately, or was it fortunately? Most of her previous partners had been female, and all of them had been human. Well, the fuck if that wasn't going to stop her from being damn good at this too. Another draw of whiskey and it was down to business.

"How to please an Asari" she keyed in with a wince, then added "in bed" but then deleted that last bit and hit enter.

Scanning down the search results Shepard couldn't help but roll her eyes. She scrolled past several pages of unhelpful links that read, "How to please an Asari – tips for enhancing your anatomy!" "How to last longer in bed with an Asari." "Multiple orgasms every time, satisfy your Asari lover with these 10 hot tips!" "How to get an Asari into your bed."

"Fuck this, I don't need tips on getting an Asari into my bed," Shepard muttered, "I need to know what to do about it if I ever get her there." Switching tactics, she decided to brave the video results section of the search, thinking that maybe a little direct observation or perhaps even a video demonstration would give her some insight into the situation. And by "the situation," she meant "what was under Liara's lab coat." The video results proved to be just as uninspiring as their tasteless text-based counterparts. Clicking through half a dozen videos Shepard briefly watched a turian male fucking an asari, a krogan male fucking an asari, a human male fucking an asari (slightly more relevant but still not what she was looking for…), a salarian male fucking an asari, hey the asari was on top in this one heh, wait what? A salarian? Shepard thought she recalled from exobiology class that salarians reproduced…well…not by fucking. She thought about it for a second but then decided that she didn't want to know. Frustrated, she closed the search window completely before she ran across anything else she didn't want to know. Like a hanar fucking an asari. Or maybe a volus. She shuddered a little. Where did that whiskey go, ah, there it is. Nothing she had found so far was even remotely useful, in fact, she was starting to get annoyed.

"I asked how to please an asari you snub-nosed son of a bald-faced turian, not how an asari can please _you,_ exobiotic havers of dicks of various sizes." She grumbled and waved her glass in the general direction of the extranet terminal before taking another drink. Clearly this was not getting her anywhere. She'd have to go directly to the source and get far more specific.

"Fornax," she keyed into a fresh search prompt before belatedly remembering the time that Joker had infected their system with a very interesting virus that Tali had tracked back to one of his more…well…unfortunate extranet searches. Interesting, that is, if you define interesting as anything that causes the ship's VI to offer "live video chat with attractive females of any species, 10 credits a minute!" to all users upon login. Damn if she hadn't grounded his ass for a week after that one. She would have made him scrub the toilets with his toothbrush too, but his legs couldn't take the strain.

Shepard shook her head. After fiddling with her privacy settings a bit, throwing up a few firewalls, and isolating her terminal from the system, she quaffed the rest of her drink and deliberately typed "Asari F/f" into the fornax archive search. _Here we go, ok this seems a little more promising_. All of the results were female-female pairings, and none of them featured any volus. So far so good. Wait, wait, Liara said that the words female and male have no meaning to her people. She had spent a good deal of time trying to explain to Shepard, in terms that were adorably prim and scientific, that the asari were not an all-female race, but a race of monogendered individuals, neither male nor female. Shepard made the mental adjustment, deciding it was best to start thinking of asari pairings the way that Liara did so as not to make an ass of herself by saying something insensitive or incorrect. All of the pairings were female-asari pairings, and there were still no volus in evidence.

Leaning back in her chair, she navigated past several turian-female/asari vids, a salarian-female/asari vid (again with the salarians, what?), and a decent number of selections featuring stronger forms of entertainment: a deep blue asari tied hands-and-feet to a four-post bed with a blindfold on, a lighter skinned asari bent over a pommel horse being flogged with a cat-o-nine-tails, a dark purple asari with bold facial tattoos in a leather jacket and thigh-high leather boots hoisting the chains of a shacked human female. These things interested Shepard but they were a bit too major-league for what she was after. She felt like she was still playing T-ball. Playing T-ball and whiffing. Maybe later…an entry caught her eye. Click. The vid was called simply Maiden/Matriarch and featured, as the title implied, two asari, one younger and one older. Keywords: asari, blue, azure, ageplay, F/f, first time, pureblood, fetish.

_Pureblood fetish? What?_ Shepard recognized the word from a conversation she'd had with Liara concerning her parentage. Apparently most asari considered it anathema for two asari to have children together, even though that had been the way their people reproduced for hundreds of thousands of years before they developed space flight. Now most asari joined with members of another species, rather than their own kind, and children born of two asari parents were labeled as purebloods, an extremely offensive and derogatory term not to be used in polite company. Liara had been reluctant to talk about it but had confided in Shepard that although she didn't know who her siring parent was she knew it was another asari. She'd also told her that as a pureblooded asari she was treated with scorn and disgust by many of her people, if not shunned outright. The entire concept was baffling and seemed completely arbitrary, especially since all children born to asari were 100% asari, regardless of the identity of the "father," but it seemed important to Liara so Shepard made a point of trying to understand the cultural quirk. Plus, now she would have the pleasure of inserting her boot into the ass of anyone who gave Liara a hard time over this kind of racist bullshit.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and pouring the last of the whiskey from the bottle into her glass, Shepard propped her chin on her hand and hit play.

A young asari maiden with pale lilac skin entered a circular room, which was lined with huge windows that looked out over the sea. Waves crashed against rock and a light rain fell as she knelt demurely seiza-style in the center of the room amongst a scattering of pillows and cushions. After she had taken her place the matriarch entered and knelt opposite her, and the younger asari made her a gesture of respectful greeting. The matriarch's demeanor spoke of centuries of life and living and grief and pain and pleasure but it seemed that age had only deepened her beauty; her skin was a flawless deep cerulean and she moved as lithely as a stalking tigress. "Aleera," she purred, stroking the younger woman's cheek, "you would join with me."

"Yes," the other asari said, closing her eyes and leaning into the touch, "please mistress Isa you know I have asked this of you."

"It will be as you have asked." The older asari pulled a single cord and Aleera's silken robe slithered off of her slender purple shoulders, leaving her completely naked. Dark blue hands caressed lavender skin in a pattern that seemed almost ritualistic but was clearly having the desired effect. Still fully clothed, Isa pulled both of them up so that their bodies met as they rose to their knees on tasseled pillows. Aleera wrapped her arms around the older woman's neck and linked their eyes before closing her own with as their lips met. Isa rested both of her hands around the girl's waist and stroked lightly at the base of her spine before running her fingers all the way up her long, perfectly curved back to caress the ridges and folds that extended from the base of her sweeping crest. Aleera reacted immediately to the touch, arching her back and breaking off the kiss, now breathing heavily but trying not to appear overeager. The matriarch continued caressing the back of the young woman's neck while holding their bodies together with a firm hand in the small of her back. A whimper escaped Aleera's lips as the older woman began kissing her neck while simultaneously stroking with both hands. After several minutes of the matriarch's expert ministrations the younger woman's breathing was coming in ragged gasps and her head was thrown back as a dark purple heat flushed her skin. Isa broke away and cradled the younger woman's face in her hands, locking on to her eyes, which were a strikingly vivid shade of green and clouded with desire.

"You would join with me."

"Yes."

"Embrace eternity."

Two pairs of eyes flared space-black and…the video stopped. Please link your credit information to continue viewing this vid. Thank you, Fornax Galactic Incorporated is powered by TruVue motion capture technology for your viewing pleasure!

"Motherfucker, seriously?" Shepard snapped at the screen, which clearly did not empathize with her frustration. Digging around in a desk drawer for her personal credit chit she muttered a string of insults at the unfeeling electronic device before inserting the required chip in to its slot at the base of the terminal. "Yeah, that's right, play, fucker, interrupting my shit like that, what the hell..." Her glass, still half full, sat forgotten and out of reach.

"Embrace eternity." Two pairs of eyes flared space black. Mistress Isa resumed her attentions to Aleera's flushed and naked body, moving more urgently this time as the younger woman clutched helplessly at the silky fabric still covering her lover's back. After several minutes of building tension under the purposeful motion cerulean hands and lips the maiden collapsed to her hands and knees panting, no longer able to hold her shaking body upright. Lady Isa was also breathing heavily as she regarded the younger woman with a mix of amusement and desire. She pushed the maiden back onto a pile of pillows before pausing to remove her own garment in one smooth motion, casting it aside. Black eyes met black eyes as their bodies intertwined, pale lilac skin sliding under deep blue as they moved together, their coupling becoming fierce and insistent. Light purple fingers carved furrows down the darker asari's back as Isa snaked her arm down in between their bodies. Whatever she was doing caused the young asari to arch her back and wrap her legs around her lover, her head thrown back in a silent plea.

"Shit what's she doing? I can't see!" Shepard leaned in and squinted at the display. For once she wished for one of those tasteless up-close shots these types of vids seemed to feature so that she could actually see what was going on. When it became apparent that no such view would be forthcoming Shepard growled and paused the video. She had to know! Damnit. She wanted more than anything to have her own fair-skinned asari maiden writhing beneath her begging for release, and to be able give her exactly what she needed in that moment.

"Asari reproductive anatomy." She typed into a new search window, hoping that the extreme clinical nature of the inquiry would yield actual information instead of more absurd top 10 how-to-bed-a-hot-asari-babe tips. Fortunately, it did and she pulled up an anatomical diagram that seemed to be what she was looking for. All of the labels were written in the swirling symbols favored by native asari languages, as were the descriptions, but the curves and folds and ridges and shapes depicted in the drawing were strangely familiar. A feral, wolfish grin spread across Shepard's face as she studied each aspect of the diagram. The fuck if she didn't know _exactly_ what the fuck to do with _that. _Heh.

Still smiling to herself, Shepard tabbed back to the video. _Time to see what happens if I manage to do it right._ She hit play.

Isa's shoulder and wrist moved in rhythm with Aleera's hips. She wrapped her other hand around the younger woman's neck and pressed their foreheads together, both of them gasping and panting, desperate for release. "Deeper, please I need … you … Isa!" Aleera pleaded her passion-blackened eyes searching out those of her lover, which were downcast and determinedly closed as her shoulder continued to flex and work, driving the young maiden higher and higher towards the precipice both of them felt. When Isa deliberately opened her eyes and raised them to meet the searching black pools beneath her both pairs of eyes seemed to deepen, becoming blacker still before they flared brightly in a release of pure black energy. Both women tensed and cried out as their climax took them. Hands clutched and backs arched, Aleera wrapped her legs tighter and pushed her hips upwards rocking against her lover's hand as she shuddered with waves of release. Her passions spent, Isa collapsed down into the young maiden's arms, applying pressure with her hip between two pale legs which caused the younger woman to shiver and gasp as delightful aftershocks raced up and down her body. Finally, both bodies stilled as two sets of black eyes faded back to green and blue.

"Fuck…me" Shepard whispered hoarsely to her empty room. The slick heat between her legs throbbed painfully and her body seemed to be crackling with an electric energy. She wanted more than anything to take the place of the skillful matriarch in the vid and feel the young maiden moving under her, moving against her, the beautiful young asari who made her heart pound in her chest and her thoughts jumble and her lips tingle for lack of contact. The maiden in the vid now had pale blue skin and Liara's face as Shepard drove into her with relentless passion, pale blue legs wrapped around her waist. Her teeth raked against Liara's neck as she curved her fingers upwards, applying pressure that made her lover's muscles clench and pulse. Her thumb sought the throbbing nodule that was located exactly where she knew it would be. Liara gasped and shuddered and ground herself against Shepard's hand, helplessly clawing bloody scratches down her lover's back. "Shepard…Shepard please…more!"

Instead of pressing harder Shepard lightened her touch, backing away slowly as Liara became more sensitive, keeping the pressure she needed just out of reach. Liara's hips jerked helplessly and a rising string of whimpering cries escaped from her passion-parted purple lips as Shepard teased her, confident that she could give Liara what she wanted at any moment if she chose to do so. With a strangled cry of frustration, Liara forced her eyes open and dragged Shepard's head down to meet hers. Liara's eyes were her undoing, as always. Her eyes, and the now-constant string of desperate pleas that ate away at Shepard's resolve. No longer able to hold back, she drove forward simultaneously with her fingers, tongue, teeth, lips, hips, all of herself she gave to Liara. She felt the body beneath her stretch and relax for a single moment before the wave of her climax washed over her, every muscle tensing and quivering as Liara came, hard and for her, her fingers clutching at her shoulders as her inner muscles clutched at Shepard's fingers.

Shepard's head snapped back in her chair and her toes curled inside her boots as a strangled, guttural cry escaped her lips. A decade of bunking with marines had trained her to take care of such things quietly and with as little motion as possible, but the unexpected force of her climax overrode her usual degree of restraint.

"Holyshit…" she panted, withdrawing her hand from between her legs and wiping it on the rough fabric of her pants. After a few moments the room around her began to come back into focus and her eyes came to rest on the disaster she'd made of her office desk. An empty bottle of whiskey lay on its side amongst a scattering of datapads and a half-empty glass of the same sat to the right of the display, which was flashing the Fornax logo and offering several videos related to the one that had just played. Shepard groaned and ran her hand over her face.

_Shit, what am I doing? I don't even know if Liara wants this! What am I going to say when I see her tomorrow? What will the crew say, will they notice? Why am I such a creepy bastard! Locked up here in my quarters wanking to porn on the extranet, imagining I'm fucking a member of my crew, this _cannot_ be happening. Why am I _letting_ this happen?_ She scowled and punched the Fornax search closed, which revealed the asari anatomical diagram she had been studying earlier. She groaned and closed that too before scrubbing all traces of her recent forays from the terminal and returning the security and browsing settings to their regulation default. She considered the glass of whiskey for a moment before downing the remaining inch of amber liquid. Returning the now-empty glass and bottle to their place in her desk drawer she sighed defeatedly and buried her face in her hands.

_Goddamnit Liara. And goddamn her eyes. I have no idea what I'm going to do about this._ She glanced at the time display on her terminal, which serenely informed her that the time was 04:23.

_Shit!_ She had a meeting with Tali and Engineer Adams at 07:00 sharp and then an appointment with the Council via comm at 08:00. She shot up and began stripping off her clothing as she made her way towards her private sink to brush her teeth. Halfway across the room she stumbled and had to stop to steady herself. Apparently her feet were still numb and her limbs weren't working quite right. Shepard suspected that her lack of coordination wasn't entirely due to the whiskey, either, as she shook her head to clear her thoughts. Three minutes later, she was passed out face down on her bunk.


End file.
